Every so often when I'm checking my PiAware ADSB receiver/display I'll notice an aircraft with a flight path that catches my eye. I watched all the aerial tankers and observation aircraft during the recent Alexander Mountain fire. And I see an occasional EC-135 Rivet Joint from Offutt AFB on a training flight.
This American Airlines flight originated at DFW, and was supposed to land in Eagle, Colorado, a fair bit Northwest of us.
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Somewhere on his path he diverted to Denver. He enters an oval "Race Track" pattern, and then is directed to a longer, narrower Race Track, which he orbited several times. He then heads out quite a ways to the Northwest, turns and heads back to Denver, gets in the pattern, and lands.
Kinda looks like something went wrong. Medical Emergency, or Aircraft problems? He didn't squawk 7700, so it wasn't a MAYDAY situation.
If you hear anything about AA1245, let me know.
Been 95+ and muggy the last several days. Yesterday and today's weather Radar showed some thunderstorm activity in the immediate area, and today it looked significant. We didn't even get any sprinkles here, but as long as it rained in the burn area, I'm good with it.
Got all the lamps, the electrolytic capacitors, and the burned resistors changed out in the Fisher RS-2010, and as soon as I figure out a bunch of components NOT on the schematic or parts list are doing, I'll annotate my schematics, and carry on.
Stay hydrated, my friends, and always keep the old noggin on a swivel...
Praise God you got some rain. I hope it helped with the fire.
ReplyDeleteYou all be safe and God bless.
We haven't gotten any, but I'm sure the fire was rained on.
DeleteAround 7:30 there was a lot of lightning in the Lyons area so maybe some rain fell in the burn area.
ReplyDeleteI'd say yes from the radar data.
DeleteWe finally got a little rain here in Wickenburg, AZ. Lotsa big drops finally settling into a steady gentle rain for half an hour or so. We needed it. And, Yes, It made our dry heat a bit muggy for a bit.
ReplyDeleteI'm not seeing anything on AA1245 from my sources. Weird.
Our humidity has been running ~35-40% the last few days. It's usually down in the "19%" range, and we definitely feel it.
DeleteKinda weird, but interesting. They seem to put them in patterns like that to burn off some fuel, but taking the time to reduce the fuel on landing doesn't seem like what they'd do if someone had a critical medical thing. Aircraft problem seems more likely from that standpoint. I don't understand the geography, but does that big fire play into it? In that case, maybe they went to Denver instead of flying through the mess around and over that?
ReplyDeleteI think Old_NFO nailed it.
Delete1400 feet higher than DEN, so high and even hotter. Depending on the bird, it could have put the runway off limits due to density altitude (e.g. too short).
ReplyDeleteAhhhhhh......You might have it, NFO! I hadn't considered the altitude and weather. It's been really hot here, and very dry. Isn't it called "Altitude Density" or something similar? Haven't flown anything since about 1980, so I've forgotten a lot.
DeleteYep, density altitude is a function of the pressure altitude v. temperature. A 10 degree rise in temps above the norm at that altitude could raise the density altitude by 600 feet. 20 degrees would be 1200 feet, putting Eagle Pass over 8000 feet!
DeleteAhhh...reversed the words, but remembered the concept! Drag Racers used to carry an "Air Density Gauge" to help them adjust their Fuel/Air mixture.
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